Expanded search method and system in trained processors

ABSTRACT

Operation of a trained processor beyond an untrained point where successive time sampled sets of level dependent signals stored in a tree storage array at successive memory locations along with a trained response for each set at a subsequent memory location form a data base to locate and extract a trained response to subsequent sets encountered following completion of training. A test set forming an untrained point is sequentially compared with each trained set stored in memory to establish and store a difference function relative to each trained set. Logic means selects as the trained response for the untrained point the trained response from those trained responses for which the trained sets have the same minimal difference function and which satisfies a predetermined decision criteria.

United States Patent [72] inventors William C. Chintz: 3,435,422 3/1969 Gerhardt et al 340/l 72.5 Michael K. Mslembotls of Ddlls, Tel. 3,457,552 7/l969 Asendorf 340M725 1969 Primary Examiner-Paul J. Henon hunted y Assistant ExaminerHar /ey E. Springborn m1 "';:;:::.1-.f.1:;:t.:t::'"s.;.t2;21:2?tiztr'azzziz."

Dallas, Ten. p. an,

James T. Comfort and D. Carl Richards esggg az AND SYSTEM IN ABSTRACT: Operation of a trained processor beyond an untrained point where successive time sampled sets of level de- 10 Chills, l3 Dre'l lfl' fl pendent signals stored in a tree storage array at successive [52] US. Cl 340/1725 memory location; along with a trained response for each set at i l m 1 a subsequent memory location form a data base to locate and I sfi 340/1463. extract a trained response to subsequent sets encountered fol- 172-5 lowing completion of training. A test set forming an untrained point is sequentially compared with each trained set stored in [56] Menu. memory to establish and store a difference function relative to UNITED STATES PATENTS each trained set. Logic means selects as the trained response 3,l9l,l50 6/1965 Andrews 340ll46.3 for the untrained point the trained response from those 3,209,328 9/l965 Bonner 340/1463 trained responses for which the trained sets have the same 3,235,844 2/1966 White IMO/172.5 minimal difference function and which satisfies a predeter- 3.3l9,229 5/l967 Fuhr et al. 340/l72.$ mined decision criteria.

IZK

MEMORY UPDATE 23 I I4 I35 A DIVIDER Q :32 H oumnzss sl l STORAGE x i 5 KG MATRIXl l {30 POL I20 oum'nzsn I2Ia I u s u I T ,-MEMORY no us UPDATE ui A MATRlm 2 umr souncs PAIENTEUJULZHHII 3,596,258

saw our 11 J Xi l MEMORY UPDATE [23g I I: I35\ 2 DIVIDER [I1 QUANTIZER L E i I I I STORAGE x 5 (G MATRIX) I [30 QUANTIZER 1210 I24 MEMORY LE uPOATE 9 QUANTIZER STORAGE I38 (A MATRIX) 8,

UNIT SOURCE FIG. I

INPUT TO QUANTIZER INVENTORS:

WILLIAM C. CHOATE MICHAEL K. MASTEN ATTORNEY FIG. II

PATENTEO JUtZ? 1971 FIG. 3

SHEET 03 0F 11 INlTIALIZATION SET ALL ID O IC= 0 SET VALUE OF N READ INPUT SIGNAL (5) AND DESIRED OUTPUT 2 QUANTIZE S\GNALS LEVEL= LEVEL N YES '2 ID H, IDUM) IX(LEVEL] UNTRAINEO POlNT IDUM= IDUM+ l LEVEL= LEVEL EXECUTE ID (2,1DUM) IC IDUM=1D(2,IDUM) G) IDUM mum YES 2 NO 140 LEVEL= N EXECUTE: Q

IDUM: 1C LEVEL LEVEL 1 TRAIN 1c=1c+| IDUM= 1c ID[2,ID IOU, ID

9 O X: 10 u, IDUM) /1o {2,IDUM) ID (I, IC)= IX(LEVEL) INVENTORS WILLIAM C. CHOATE MICHAEL K. MASTEN ATTORNEY PATENTH] JuLznsra P WM 25H SHEET 05 nr 11 REG.

QUANTIZER QUANTIZER SETL LEVEL=| 1D(I, IDUM) COMPARATOR I X(LEVEL) (2,IDUM) COMPARATOR 200 I2 8 304 LEVEL REG. 277

COMPARATOR 276 N. REG.

FIG. 5

PATENTEUJULZTIHTJ 3,596,258

SHEET 05 0F 11 FIG. 6

IDUM 22 REGISTER m REGISTER 9 HA 2O ISA 25 I58 I ID(|,lC,8lDUM) I KEY I COMPONENT 308 262 AND G M INPUT OUTPUT SELECT MATR SELECT STORAGE 2o II ID(2,IC,8IDUM) I JIB I55 I ADP AND MATRIX INPUT OUTPUT NB SELECT STORAGE SELECT IIA PATENIEU JUL2 7 an SHEET 08 0F 11 PATENTFD JULZT l9?! SHEET l VALUES OF QUANTlZERS IX (I). IX(2).--- IX (N) (2] VALUE OF N ASSIGN WEIGHT VALUES WTU), WT(2),'-WT(N) ENTER FROM USUAL PROCEDURE SET J H I II II 0 F K (n rouy ITOT=1E(U+ ITOT 1Em=wm1* DIFEIDUJDUMLIXUT] EEQLEI ITOTAL ITOT IGHJC) IDBJOUM) ID(4,IDUM) 24 IDUM=ID(2.I

FIG. /3

K (I)= IOUM DECISION YES OUTPUT S ITOT= IEKI) ITOT IDUM=IDl3,IDUM) INVENTORS'.

WILLIAM C. CHOATE MICHAEL K. MASTEN A (/PWLJA AT TORNEY EXPANDED SEARCH METHOD AND SYSTEM IN TIAINED PROCESS) This invention relates to an expanded search when an untrained point is encountered in use of tree storage in a trainsble optimal signal processor.

A trainable processor is a device or system capable of receiving and digesting infonnation in a training mode of operand subsequently operating on additional information in an execution mode of operation in a manner learned in accordance with training.

The process of receiving information and digesting it constitute training. Training is accomplished by subjecting the processor to typical input signals together with the desired outputs or responses to these signals. The input/desired output signals used to train the processor are called training functions. During training the processor determines and stores cause-effect relationships between input and desired output. The cause-effection relationships determined during training are called trained responses.

The post training process of receiving additional information via input signals and operating on it in some desired manner to perform useful tasks is called execution. More esplicitly, for the processors considered herein, the purpose of execution is to produce from the input signal an output, called the actual output, which is the best, or optimal, estimate of the desired output signal. There are a number of useful criteria defining "optimal estimate." One is minumum mean squared error between desired and actual output signals. Another. useful in classification applications, is minimum probability of er TOI.

Optimal, nonlinear processors may be of the type disclosed in Bose U.S. Pat. No. 3,265,870, which represents an application of the nonlinear theory discussed by Norbert Weiner in his work entitled Fourier Integral and Certain of Its Applicarimsr, I933, Dover Publications, Inc., or of the type described in application Ser. No. 732,152, filed May 27, I968, for Feedback-Minimised Optimum Filters and Predictors."

Such processors have a wide variety of applications. In general, they are applicable to any problem in which the cause-effect relationship can be determined via training. While the present invention may be employed in connection with processors of the Bose type, the processor disclosed and claimed in said application Ser. No. 732,152 will be described forthwith to provide a setting for the description of the present invention.

Unless provision is made to accommodate untrained points during the execution phase, the processor may be unable to continue. An untrained point is encountered when a set of execution signals is encountered that differs in at least one member from any set encountered during training. The present invention provides for an expanded search in response to an untrained point (set of input signals) to locate the trained response for the input set which most nearly corresponds with the untrained point or is the most appropriate trained response for the untrained point.

In accordance with one aspect of the invention a trained procemor operates beyond an untrained point where succeb sive time samples sets of level dependent signals have been stored in a tree storage array at successive memory locations along with a trained response for each set at a subsequent memory location to form a data base to locate and extract a trained response to subsequent sets encountered following completion of training. A test set formingthe untrained point is compared, member by member, with each trained set stored in memory to establ'ah and store a difference function relative to each said trained set. The trained set or sets closest to the test set are selected and the trained response corresponding with the selected set which satisfies a preselected decision criteria is selected from memory.

In a further upset, the invention provides an expanded search system for use with such processor. Means responsive to an execution signal set not encountered in training successively compare the execution set, member by member, with the corresponding members of stored sets to produce difference functions. Means responsive to one of said difference functions and to completion of the comparisons selects the trained response from those for which a minimum difference function is produced during the comparisons and which response satisfies a decision criteria. Means are then provided for utilizing the selected trained response in the system to permit operation upon the signal set following the untrained set. In one embodiment, means were provided for selecting as the trained response for the untrained set a trained response from those having the same minimal difference and which most often was encountered during training.

For a more complete understanding of the present invention and for further objects and advantages thereof, reference may now be had to the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. I is a block diagram of one embodiment of applicants prior system to which the present invention is related;

FIG. 2 illustrates schematically a computer representation of a doubly chained tree;

FIG. 3 is a generalised flow diagram illustrating an optimum processor in which storage is utilized only as needed;

FIG. 4 is a generalized flow diagram illustrating an operation where, during execution, an untrained point is encountered;

FIGS. 5-10 illustrate a special purpose tree structured digital processor;

FIG. ll illustrates the technique of "infinite quantization" employed in the system of FIGS. 5-4;

FIG. 12 is a symbolic illustration by which pipeline techniques may be employed in conjunction with the tree storage procedure to effect rapid information storage and retrieval; and

FIG. 13 is a generalized flow diagram illustrating untrained point operation of a trainable processor employing probability restructuring of memory storage during training.

Operations involving an untrained point will be described herein in connection with a trainsble processor of the type disclosed in U.S. application Ser. No. 732,152, mentioned above, in which there is provided tree storage capability described and claimed in copending U.S. application Ser. No. 889,240 for Storage Minimized Optimum Processor" FIG. I: TRAINING PHASE In the following description, the use of a bar under a given symbol, e.g., signifies that the signal so designated is a multicomponent signal, i.e., a vector. For example, u=[u,(r)u,(t )1, where u (t)==u(l), and u (t)=[u(t)-u(t7]. The improvement in the processor disclosed in Ser. No. 732,152 is accomplished through the use of a feedback component derived from the delayed output signal ,r(r-T). This component serves as a supplemental input which typically conveys far more information than a supplemental input vector derived from the input sequence u(r-k'l), k-l, 2, of the same dimensionality. Thus the storage mquirements for a given level of performance are materially reduced. As in the Bose patent, the processor is trained in dependence upon some known or assumed function s which is a desired output such that the actual output function .r is made to correspond to z for inputs which have statistics similar to Thereafter, the processor will respond to signals u, etc., which are of the generic class of g in a manner which is optimum in the sense that the average error squared between z and x is minimized. In the following description, the training phase will first be discussed following which the changes to carry out operations during execution on signals other than those used for training will be described.

In FIG. I the first component of signal a from a source fonns the input to a quantiser Ill. The output of quantizer III is connected to each of a pair of storage units I12 and I13. The storage units 112 and 113 will in general have like capabilities and will both be jointly addressed by signals in the output circuits of the quantizer Ill and quantisers 114 and 115 and may indeed be a simple storage unit with additional word storage capacity. The storage units 1 12 and I 13 are multielement storage units capable of storing different electrical quantities at a plurality of different addressable storage locations, either digital or analog, but preferably digital. Unit 112 has been given a generic designation in FIG. 1 of "G MATRIX" and unit 113 has been designated as an A MATRIX." As in application Ser. No. 732,52, the trained responses of the processor are obtained by dividing G values stored in unit I12 by corresponding A values stored in unit 1 13.

The third quantizer 115 has been illustrated also addressing both storage units 112 and 113 in accordance with the second component ofthe signal I derived from source 110, the delay I18 and the inversion unit 1180. More particularly, if the signal sample a, is the contemporary value of the signal from swmqllihthsu the inaqtaanl eitaaa i rBibl cal;- This input is produced by applying to a summing unit 111 u, and the negative of the same signal delayed by one sample increment by the delay unit 118. For such an input, the storage units 112 and 113 may be regarded as three dimensional matrices of storage elements. In the description of FIG. 1 which immediately follows, the quantizer 115 will be ignored and will be referred to later.

The output of storage unit 1 12 is connected to an adder 120 along with the output of a unit 121 which is a signal 1,, the contemporary value of the desired output signal. A third input is connected to the adder I20 from a feedback channel 122, the latter being connected through an inverting unit 123 which changes the sign of the signal.

The output of adder 120 is connected to a divider 124 to apply a dividend signal thereto.

The divisor is derived from storage unit 113 whose output is connected to an adder 126. A unit amplitude source 127 is also connected at its output to adder 126. The output of adder 126 is connected to the divider I24 to apply the divisor signal thereto. A signal representative of the quotient is then connected to an adder 130, the output of which is contemporary value x, the processor output. The adder 130 also has a second input derived from the feedback channel 122. The feedback channel 122 transmits the processor output signal x, delayed by one unit time interval in the delay unit 132, i.e., a This feedback channel is also connected to the input of the quantizer I 14 to supply the input signal thereto.

A storage input channel 136 leading from the output of adder 120 to the storage unit 112 is provided to update the storage unit 112. Similarly, a second storage input channel 138 leading from the output of adder 116 is connected to storage unit I 13 and employed to update memory I 13.

During the training phase, neglecting the presence of quantizer 115, the system operates as will now be described. The contemporary value a, of the signal from source 110 is quan' tired in unit 111 simultaneously with quantization of the word puta la s i 11-. W sh. mtxiait a l be 295 y quantizer 114. The latter signal is provided at the output of delay unit 132 whose input-output functions may be related as follows:

T is the delay in seconds,

1-- iii-7 91:? ill] where r' is an integer, 1' is the sampling interval, and r, is the time of the initial sample. The two signals thus produced by quantisers 111 and 114 are applied to both storage units 112 and 113 to select in each unit a given storage cell. Stored in the selected cell in unit III is a signal representative of previous value of the output of adder 120 as applied to this cell by channel 136. Stored in the corresponding cell in unit 113 is a condition representative of the number of times that that cell has previously been addressed, the contents being supplied by way of channel 13!. initially all signals stored in both units 112 and 113 will be zero. The selected stored signals derived from storage array 112 are applied synchronously to adder 120 along with z.- and xi i signals.

from the addressed storage cells CilLl 11EXCUTLQNBHAS The system shown in FIG. 1 establishes conditions which represent the optimum nonlinear processor for treating signals having the same statistics as the training functions (1), 1 (r)] upon which the training is based.

After the system has been trained based upon the desired output I over a statistically significant sequence of g and g, the switches 121a, 123a, and 127:: may then be opened and a new input signal g employed whereupon the processor operates optimally on the signal a in the same manner as above i l ilh i'l'iilll i lfi aisna ny sir-1 a tiquity "9 longer employed within the update channels. Accordingly, storage units 112 and 1 13 are not updated.

In the system as shown in FIG. 1, quantizer provides an output dependent upon the differences between sequential andsawsndskh ma arial; a ds ua tlien am ar w reversal unit 1180. In this system a single delay unit 118 is provided at the input and a single delay unit 132 is provided at the output. In general, more delays could be employed on both input and output suggested by 132' shown in FIG. I. In the use of the system with quantiur I15, storage units 112 and 113 may conveniently be regarded as three dimensional. Of course, elements of the input vector and output vector are, in general, not constrained to be related by simple time delays, as for this example and, more generally, the feedback comwant any @5 9 t rita aot E ZFJXSEE J Ti j zt iilih llhii to a physical output derived therefrom. The approach used in FIG. 1 effectively reduces the number of inputs required through the utilisation of the feedback signal, hence generally affords a drastic reduction in complexity for comparable performance. Despite this fact, infonnation storage and retrieval can remain a critical obstacle in the practical employment of processors in many applications.

The trained responses can be stored in random access memory at locations specified by the keys, that is, the key can be used as the address in the memory at which the appropriate trained response is stored. Such a storage procedure is called direct addressing since the trained response is directly acce-ed. However, direct addressing often makes very poor use of the memory because storage must be reserved for all possible lteys whereas only a few keys may be generated in a specific problem. For example, the number of storage cells required to store all English words of 10 letters or less, using direct addressing, is 26" l00,000,000,000,000. Yet Webstar's New Collegiate Dictionary contains fewer than l00,000 entries. Therefore, less than .000 000 1 percent of the storage that must be allocated for direct addressing would be utilized. In practice, it is found that this phenomenon carries over to many applications of trainable processors: much of the storage dedicated to training is never used. Furthermore, the mere necessity of allocating storage on a prion basis precludes a number of important applications because the memory required greatly exceeds that which can be supplied.

The present invention is directed toward minimizing the storage required for training and operating systems of trainble optimal signal processors wherein storage is not dedicated a priori as in direct addressing but is on a first come, first served basis. This is achieved by removing the restriction of direct addressing that an absolute relationship exists between the key and the location in storage of the corresponding trained response.

In an effort to implement direct addressing, the number of key combinations can be reduced by restricting the dynamic range of the quantizers or decreasing the quantizer resolution as used in FIG. 1. For a fixed input range increasing resolution produces more possible distinct keys and likewise for a fixed resolution increased dynamic range produces more keys. Thus with direct addressing these considerations make some applications operable only with sacrificed performance due to coarse quantization, restricted dynamic range, or both. How ever, when using the tree allocation procedure disclosed in this invention, memory is used only as needed. Therefore, quantizer dynamic range and resolution are no longer predominated by storage considerations.

In practice quantization can be made as fine as desired subject to the constraints that as resolutions becomes finer more training is required to achieve an adequate representation of the training functions and more memory is required to store the trained responses. Thus, resolution is made consistent with the amount of training one wishes or has the means to employ and the memory available.

PROCESSOR TREE STORAGE The storage method of the present invention which overcomes the disadvantages of direct addressing is related to those operations in which tree structures are employed for the allocation and processing of information files. An operation based upon a tree structure is described by Sussenguth, Jr., Communications of the ACM, Vol. 6 No. V, May I963, page 272, et seq.

Training functions are generated for the purpose of training a trainable processor. From such training functions are derived a set of key functions and for each unique value thereof a trained response is determined. The key functions and associated training responses are stored as items of a tree allocated file. Since key functions which do not occur are not allocated, storage is employed only on an as needed" basis.

More particularly, the sets of quantizer outputs in FIG. I define the key function. For the purpose of the tree allocation, the key is decomposed into components called key components. A natural decomposition is to associate a key component with the output of a particular quantizer, although this choice is not fundamental. Further, it will be seen that each key component is associated with a level in the tree structure. Therefore, all levels of the tree are essential to represent a key. The term level" and other needed terminology will be introduced hereafter.

In the setting of the processors considered herein, the as sociation of a key with a trained response is called an item, the basic unit of information to be stored. A collection of one or more items constitutes a file. The key serves to distinguish the items of a file. What remains of an item when the key is removed is often called the function of the item, although for the purposes here the term trained response is more descriptive.

A graph comprises a set of nodes and a set of unilateral associations specified between pairs of nodes. If node i is associated with node j, the association is called a branch from initial node i to terminal node j. A path is a sequence of branches such that the terminal node of each branch coincides with the initial node of the succeeding branch. Node j is reachable from node i if there is a path from node i to node j. The number of branches in a path is the length of the path. A circuit is a path in which the initial node coincides with the terminal node.

A tree is a graph which contains no circuits and hunt most one branch entering each node. A root of a tree is a node which has no branches entering it, and a leaf is a node which has no branches leaving it. A root is said to lie on the first level of the tree, and a node which lies at the end of a path of length 0-1) from a root is on the j" level. When all leaves ofa tree lie at only one level, it is meaningful to speak of this as the leaf level. Such uniform trees have been found widely useful and, for simplicity, are solely considered herein. It should be noted, however, that nonuniform trees may be accommodated as they have important applications in optimum nonlinear proceuing. The set of nodes which lie at the end of a path of length one from node x comprises the filial set of node x, and x is the parent node of that set. A set of nodes reachable from node x is said to be governed by .r and comprises the nodes of the subtree rooted at x. A chain is a tree, or subtrce, which has at most one branch leaving each node.

In the present system, a node is realized by a portion of storage consisting of at least two components, a node value and an address component designated ADP. The value serves to distinguish a node from all other nodes of the filial set of which it is a member. The value corresponds directly with the key component which is associated with the level of the node. The ADP component serves to identify the location in memory of another node belonging to the same filial set. All nodes of a filial set are linked together by means of their ADP components. These linkages commonly take the form of a "chain" of nodes constituting a filial set. Then it is meaningful to consider the first member of the chain the entry node and the last member the terminal node. The terminal node may be identified by a distinctive property of its ADP. In addition, a node may commonly contain an address component ADF plus other information. The ADF links a given node to its filial set. Since in some applications the ADF linkage can be computed, it is not found in all tree structures.

In operation the nodes of the tree are processed in a sequential manner with each operation in the sequence defining in part a path through the tree which corresponds to the key function and provides access to the appropriate trained response. This sequence of operations in effect searches the tree allocated file to determine if an item corresponding to the particular key function is contained therein. If during training the item cannot be located, the existing tree structure is augmented so as to incorporate the missing item into the file. Every time such a sequence is initiated and completed, the processor is said to have undergone a training cycle.

The operations of the training cycle can be made more concrete by considering a specific example. Consider FIG. 2 wherein a tree structure such as could result from training a processor is depicted. The blocks represent the nodes stored in memory. They are partitioned into their value, ADP, and ADF components. The circled number associated with each block identifies the node and corresponds to the location (or locations) of the node in memory. As discussed, the ADP of a node links it to another node within the same filial set and ADF links it to a node of its filial set at the next level of the tree. For example, in FIG. 2, ADP links node 1 to node 8 and ADF, links node I to node 2. For clarity the ADP linkages between nodes are designated with dashed lines whereas the ADF linkages are designated with solid lines. In FIG. 2 the trained responses are stored in lieu of ADF components at the leaf nodes since the leaves have no progeny. Alternatively, the ADF component of the leaves may contain the address at which the trained response is stored. in this setting the system inputs are quantizer outputs and are compared with a node value stored at the appropriate level of the tree.

When the node value matches a quantizer output, the node is said to be selected and operation progresses via the ADF to the next level of the tree. If the value and quantizer output do not match, the node is tested, generally by testing the ADP, to determine if other nodes exist within the set which have not been considered in the current search operation. If additional nodes exist, transfer is effected to the node specified by the ADI? and the value of that node is compared with the quantimer output. Otherwise, a node is created and linked to the set by the ADP of what previously was the terminal node. The created node, which becomes the new terminal node, is given a value equal to the quantizer output, an ADP component indicating termination, and an ADF which initiates a chain of nodes through the leaf node.

When transfer is effected to the succeeding level, the operations performed are identical to those just described provided the leaf level has not been reached. At the leaf level if a match is obtained, the trained response can be accessed as a node component or its address can be derived from this component.

A typical operation of this type can be observed in FIG. 2 in which the operations of the training cycle begin at node I where the first component of the key is compared with VAL,. It said component does not match VAL,, the value of ADP, (=8) is read and operation shifts to node 8 where the component is compared with VAL If said component does not match VAL the value of ADP, is changed to the address of the next available location in memory (I2 in the example of FIG. 2) and new tree structure is added with the assigned value of the new node being equal to the first key component. Operations within a single level whereby a node is selected or added is termed a level iteration. The first level iteration is completed when either a node of the first level is selected or a new one added. Assume VAL matches the first component of the key. Operation is then transferred to the node whose address is given by l tDF (=2). At level two, VAL, will be compared with the second component of the key withoperation progressing either to node 3 or node 4 depending upon whether VAL and said key component match. Operation progresses in this manner until a trained response is located at the leaf level, and new roof generated.

Note in FIG. 2 that the node location specified by the ADF is always one greater than the location containing the ADF. Clearly, in this situation the ADF is superfluous and may be omitted to conserve storage. However, all situations do not admit to this or any other simple relationship, whence storage must be allotted to an ADF component. By way of example for such necessity, copending application Ser. No. B89,l43, filed Dec. 30, I969 and entitled "Probability Sort In A Storage Minimized Optimum Processor," discloses such a need. For simplicity. only those situations in which the ADF can be obtained according to the above rule will be detailed herein.

Training progresses in the above manner with each new key function generating a path through the tree defining a leaf node at which the trained response is stored. All subsequent repeated keys serve to locate and update the appropriate trained response. During training the failure to match a node value with the output of the corresponding quantizer serves to instigate the allocation of new tree storage to accommodate the new information. In execution. such conditions would be termed an untrained point. This term derives from the fact that none of the keys stored in training matches the one under test during execution.

As discussed previously, when the tree allocation procedure is used, the numerical magnitude of a particular node value is independent of the location or locations in memory at which the node is stored. This provides a good deal of flexibility in assigning convenient numerical magnitudes to the quantizer outputs. As is shown in FIG. II, the numbers in the region of 32000 were selected as quantizer outputs to emphasize the independence of the actual magnitude of quantizer outputs and because they correspond to half of the dynamic range provided by the number of bits of storage of the ADP field of the nodes. Thus, as seen in FIG. ll, if the input to a quantiaer is between and l, the output of said quantiaer is 32006. Any other magnitude would have served equally well. The resolution can be increased or decreased by changing the horizontal scale so that the input range which corresponds to a given quantizer value is changed. For example, if the scale is doubled, any input between 0 and 2 would produce 32006, any input between 2 and 4 would yield 32007, etc., so that resolution has been halved. Likewise, the quantizer ranges can be nonuniform as evidenced by nonuniform spacing on the horizontal scale thus achieving variable resolution as might be desirable for some applications.

Another benefit to be realized from the latitude of the quantizations of FIG. I l is that the range of the input variables does not need to be known a priori since a wide range of node values can be accommodated by the storage afforded by the VAL field. If the input signal has wide variations, the appropriate output values will be generated. The dashed lines in FIG. ll imply that the input signal can assume large positive and negative values without changing the operating principle.

In effect, the quantizers behave as though they have infinite range. This arrangement is referred to as "infinite quantizing." While the numerical value from the quantizer is not critical, it still must be considered because the larger the number, the more bits of memory will be required to represent it. Therefore, in applications where storage is limited, the output scales of FIG. II might be altered. A

With the above general discussion of the operation and advantages of the tree storage techniques, the details of FIGS 3-10 will now be presented.

FIGS. 3 and 4 The present system employs a basic tree storage structure and use thereof with what may be termed infinite quantization of the inputs in a trainable nonlinear data processor. FIGS. 3 and 4 illustrate a generalized flow diagram in accordance with which multiinput operation may be first trained and then, after training, utilized for processing signals. The operations of FIG. 3 are generally concerned with training followed by execution on the trained responses thus produced. The operations of FIG. 4 are concerned with execution when an untrained point is encountered. It will be understood that FIG. 3 is one of many ways to implement a tree type storage procedure. FIG. 4 illustrates an expanded search procedure.

The flow diagram applies both to operations on a general purpose digital computer or on a special purpose computer illustrated in FIGS. 5-). In FIGS. 3 and 4 control states 0 41 are assigned to the operations required in the flow diagram. In the state shown, the flow diagram of FIG. 3 is applicable to a training operation. With switches I40 and MI changed to the normally open terminals, the fiow diagrams are representative of the operation of the processor once trained.

The legends set out in FIGS. 3 and 4 will best be understood by reference to the specific two input feedback example illustrated in FIGS. 5-10. Briefly, however, the following legends used in FIGS. 3 and 4 are employed in FIGS. 5I0.

Signal u, is the input signal which is a single valued function of time and is used for training purposes. Subsequent signals u, may then be used in execution after training is completed.

Signal z is the desired response of the processor to the input signal in and is used only during training. Signal EU is a re spouse of the processor at time to and etc. Si al I is the quantized value of the input a and signal I IS the quantized value of the feedback component x; l and so constitute the keys for this example. I D I is a term by which a reE'ster 184, FIG. 6, will be identified herein. IDI register I84 will serve for separate storage of key components as well as elements of a G matrix. The address in register 184 will be specified by the legend ID( I where information represented by the blank will be provided during the operation and is the node identification (number). Node values are the key component IX values and form part of the information representing each node in the storage tree.

The other part of the information representing a node is an ADP signal which is a word in storage indicating whether or not there is an address previously established in the tree to which the search shall proceed if the stored node value does not match the corresponding quantizer output at that node. Further, the ADP signal is such address.

An IDZ register 221, FIG. 6, will serve for storage of the ADP signals as well as elements of the A matrix. The address in register 221 will be specified by the legend ID(2, )where information represented by the blank is the node identification (number). Thus, ID2 is a term by which storage register 22] will be identified. IDUM refers to the contents stored in an incrementing dummy register and is used to signify the node identification at any instant during operation. N register is a register preset to the number of inputs. In the specific example of FIGS. 5-10, this is set to 2 since there are two inputs, u, and x LEVEL is a numerical indication of the level in the tree structure. LEVEL register is a register which stores different values during operation, the value indicating the level of operation within the tree structure at any given time. lC register is a register corresponding to the addreues of the storage locations in [D1 and ID2. G is the trained value of the processor response. A is the number of times a given input set has been encountered in training.

Similarly, in FIGS. 9 and 10 1C register 401, I register 402, lTOT register 403, and ITOTAL register 409 serve to store digital representation of states or controls involved in the operation depicted by the flow chart of FIG. 4, the data being stored therein being in general whole numbers. A set of WT registers 405 store weighting functions which may be preset and which are employed in connection with the operation of FIG. 4. K registers 406 similarly are provided for storing, for selection therefrom, representations related to the inforrna' tion stored in IDUM register 191, FIG. 6. IGI register 407 and 1A1 register 4 serve to store selected values of the G and A values employed in the operation of FIG. 4. Comparators 350, 360, 370, 300. 390, 400 and 410 are also basic elements in the circuit of FIGS. 9 and 10 for carrying out the comparisons set forth in FIG. 4.

FIGS. 5 and6 Refer first for FIGS. 5 and 6 which are a part of a special purpose computer comprised of FIGS. 5-10. The computer is a special purpose digital computer provided to be trained and then to operate on input signal u, from source 151. The desired response of the system to the source a, is signified as signal z from source 150. The second signal input to the system, a is supplied by way of register 152 which is in a feedback path.

Samples of the signals from sources 150 and 151 are gated, along with the value in register 152, into registers 156-158, respectively. by way of gates 153-155 in response to a gate signal on control line 159. Line 159 leads from the control unit of FIG. '7 later to be described and is identified as involving control state I. Digital representations of the input signals a, and x are stored in registers 157 and 158 and are then gated into quantizers 161 and 162 by way of gates 164 and 165 in response to a gate signal on control line 166. The quantized signals Dr, and Ix, are then stored in registers 168 and 169. The desired output signal 2, is transferred from register 156 through gate 163 and is stored in register 167.

The signal z, from register 167 is applied by way of line 170, gate 170a, and switch 14% to one input of an adder 172. Switch 1406 is in position shown during training. The key component signals stored in registers 168 and 169 are selectively gated by way of AND gates 173 and 174 to an IX(LEVEL) register 175. A register 176 is connected along with register 175 to the inputs of a comparator 177. The TRUE output of comparator I77 appears on line 178. The FALSE output of comparator 177 appears on line 179, both of which are connected to gates in the control unit of FIG. 0. The output of the IX(LEVEL) register 175 is connected by way of line 180 and gates I81 and 182 to an input select unit 183. Unit 183 serves to store a signal from OR gate 182 at an address in register 104 specified by the output of gates 255 or 262, as the case may be. A register 190 and an IDUM register 191 are connected at their outputs to a comparator 192. It will be noted that register 19] is shown in FIG. 6 and is indicated in dotted lines in FIG. 5. Tile TRUE output of comparator 192 is connected by way of line 193 to FIG. 8. The FALSE output is connected by way of line 194 to FIG. 8.

A LEVEL register 200 and N register 201 are connected to a comparator 202. The TRUE output of comparator 202 is connected by way of line 203 to FIG. 8 and the FALSE output of comparator 202 is connected by way of line 204 to FIG. 8.

An output select unit 210 actuated by gate 211 from IDUM register 191 and from OR gate 212 serves to read the G matrix signal (or the ltey signals) from the address in 1D] register 184 specified by the output of AND gate 21]. Output signals read from register 184 are then applied by way of line 213 to the adder 172 at which point the signal extracted from register 184 is added to the desired output signal and the result is then stored in G register 214. The signal on channel 213 is also transmitted by way of gate 215 and line 217 to the input to the comparator register 176.

An output selector unit 220 serves to read signals stored at addresses in the [D2 register 221 specified by an address signal from register 191 appearing on a line 222. An address gate 223 for output select unit 220 is controlled by an OR gate 224. The A matrix values (the ADP signals) selected by output selector 220 are then transmitted to an adder 230, the output of which is stored in an A register storage unit 231. The output on line 229 leading from select unit 220 is also transmitted by way of gate 232 to IDUM register 191 and to the input of the comparator register 190. Gate 132 is controlled by a signal on a control line leading from FIG. 8.

The ADP stored in the A register 231 is transmitted by way ofline 235, AND gate 236, and OR gate 237 to an input selector unit 238 for storage in the ID2 register 221 under control of OR gate 236a. The storage address in input select unit 238 is controlled by way of gate 239 in response to the output of IDUM register 191 as it appears on line 222. Gate 239 is controlled by way of OR gate 240 by control lines leading to FIG. 8. Line 222 also extends to gate 241 which feeds OR gate 237 leading to select unit 238. Line 222 leading from register 19] also is connected by way of an incrementer 250, AND gate 251 and OR gate 252 back to the input of register 191. Line 222 also extends to gate 255 leading to a second address input of the select unit 183. Line 222 also extends to the comparator 192 of FIG. 5.

An IC register 260 is connected by way of its output line 261 and by way of gate 262 to the control input of select units 183 and 238. Line 261 is also connected by way of gate 265 and an OR gate 237 to the data input of the select unit 238. Line 261 is also connected by way of an incrementer 266, AND gate 267 to the input of the register 260 to increment the same under the control of OR gate 268. lncrementing of IDUM register 191 is similarly controlled by OR gate 269.

The G value outputs from register 214 and the A value out put from register 231 are transmitted by way of lines 235 and 275 to a divider 276, the output of which is transmitted by way of channel 277 and AND gate 278 to register 152 to provide feedback signal an The signal in the LEVEL register 200 is transmitted by way of the channel 285 and the gate 286 to a decoder 287 for selective control of gates 173 and 174.

An initializing unit 290 under suitable control is connected by way of channels 291 to registers IC 260, N 201, 101 184 and ID2 221 to provide initial settings, the actual connections of channels 291, to IC, N, [DI and ID2 not being shown. A zero state input from a source 300 is applied by way of AND gate 301 under suitable control to register 152 initially to set the count in register 152 to zero.

A second initializing unit 302 is provided to preset LEVEL register 200 and IDUM register 191.

LEVEL register 200 is connected by way of an incrementer 303 and AND gate 304 to increment the storage in register 200 in response to suitable control applied by way of OR gate 305.

The output of the IC register 260 is also connected by way of gate 307 and OR gate 252 to the input of IDUM register I91, gate 307 being actuated under suitable control voltage applied to OR gate 3070.

G register 214 in addition to being connected to divider 276 is also connected by way of line 275 to gate 308 and OR gate 182 to the data input of the select unit 183, gate 308 being so tuated under suitable control. Similarly, gate 262 is actuated under suitable control applied by way of OR gate 309. Similarly, gate 181 is actuated under suitable control applied by wayofOR gate 311.

It will be noted that the input of adder 230, FIG. 6, is controlled from a unit source 313 or a zero state source 314. The unit source 313 is connected by way of a switch a and a gate 316 to OR gate 317 which leads to the second input of the adder 230. The gate 316 is actuated under suitable control. The zero state source 314 is connected by way of gate 318 leading by way of OR gate 317 to the adder 230. Gate 318 similarly is actuated under suitable control. Switch 1400 is in position shown during training.

Referring again to FIG. 3, it will be seen that control states -16 have been designated. The control states labeled in FIG. 3 correspond with the controls to which reference has been made heretofore relative to FIGS. 5 and 6. The control lines upon which the control state voltages appear are labeled on the margins of the drawings of FIGS. 5 and 6 to conform with the control states noted on FIG. 3.

FIGS. 7 and 8 The control state voltages employed in FIGS. 5, 6, 9 and 10 are produced in response to a clock 330, FIG. 7, which is connected to a counter 331 by way of line 332. Counter 331 is connected to a decoder 332 which has an output line for each of the states 0-41. The control states are then applied by way of the lines labeled at the lower right hand portion of FIG. 7 to the various input terminals correspondingly labeled on FIGS. 5 and 6 as well as FIGS. 9 and 10 yet to be described.

It will be noted that the counter 331 is connected to and incremented by clock 330 by way of a bank of AND gates 3330-), one input of each of gates 3330-) being connected directly to the clock 330. The other input to each of gates 3334-] is connected to an output of a gate in the bank of OR gates 334a-f. OR gates 3340-] are controlled by AND gates 3370-! or by AND gates 34$a-f. The incrementer together with the output of OR gate 335 jointly serve to increment the counter 331 one step at a time. The AND gates 3450-] are employed wherein a change in the count in counter 331 other than an increment is called for by the operation set forth in FIGS. 3 and 4.

Counter 331 is decoded in well known manner by decoder 332. By this means, the control states 0-41 normally would appear in sequence at the output of decoder 332. Control lines for 0,1, 2, 3, 7, 0,11, 11A,1IB. 13,15,15A, 16-18, -22, 24-26, 32, 34, 36, 38 and 40 are connected to OR gate 335. The output of OR gate 335 is connected by way of line 336 to each of gates 337a-f. As above noted, the second input to gates 337a-f are supplied by way of an incrementer 342.

The output of gate 335 is also connected by an inverter unit 338 to one input of each of gates 3454-]. The second input of the gates 3450-!" are supplied from logic leading from the comparators of FIGS. 5, 9 and I0 and from the decode unit 333.

Gates 3450- have one input each by way of a line leading from inverter 338 which is ANDed with the outputs from OR gates 3460-]. Gates 3460-] are provided under suitable control such that the required divergences from a uniform sequence in generation of control states 0-41 is accommodated. It will be noted that control states 6, 9, 13A, 14, 15B, 29, 31, 35 and 41 are connected directly to selected ones of gates 3460-].

By reference to FIGS. 3 and 4 it will be noted that on the latter control states there is an unconditional jump. In contrast, it will be noted that control states 4, 5, 10, 12, 19,23, 27, 28, 30, 33, 37 and 39 are applied to logic means whose outputs are selectively applied to OR gates 346a-f and to OR gate 335. More particularly, control state 4 is applied to gates 347a and 3484; control state 5 is applied to gates 347b and 3481:; control state 10 is applied to AND gates 347: and 348c; control state 12 is applied to AND gates 347d and 348d; control state 19 is applied to AND gates 347: and 348e, control state 23 is applied to AND gates 347]" and 348f; control state 27 is applied to AND gates 34']; and 348 control state 28 is applied to AND gates 347k and 34%; control state 30 is applied to AND gates 347i and 348:; control state 33 is applied to AND gates 347j and 348]; control state 37 is applied to AND gates 347k and 348k; and control state 39 is applied to AND gates 347m and 348m.

The outputs of AND gates 347a-m are selectively connected to OR gates 3460-1 in accordance with the Schedule A (below) whereas AND gates 348a-m are connected to OR gate 335. The second input to each of gates 347am and to gates 348a-m are derived from comparators of FIGS 5, 9 and 10 as will later be described, all consistent with Schedule A.

SCHEDULE A Schedule of logic connections to O R gates (Ga-l and 335 Next control Bit changed Condition state for shift Present control state:

It will be noted that control state 10 is applied to gate 348c by way of switch 141. In the position shown in FIG. 7 switch 141 is set for a training operation. Thus, on control state 10 if the comparison is true, then the operation increments from control state 10 to control state 11. However, in execution if the comparison in control state 10 is true, then the operation skips from control state 10 to control state 16. This signifies, in execution, that all of the stored values have been interrogated and it has been found that the contemporary set of execution input signals were not encountered during training so that the system is attempting to execute on an untrained point. It is at this point that the system of FIGS. 9 and 10 are considered to permit continued operation in a preferred manner when an untrained point is encountered during execution as will later be described.

It will be noted that lines 178, 179, 204, 203, I93 and 194 are output lines leading from comparators 177, 192, and 202, FIG. 5. Lines 361, 362, 411, 412, 372, 371, 282, 281, 352, 351, 401, 402, 392, 391 appearing at the lower left side of FIG. 7 are output lines leading from the comparators 350, 360, 370, 380, 390, 400 and 410 of FIG. 10. The comparisons of Schedule A together with the connections indicated in FIGS. 7 and 8 will make clear the manner in which the sequences required in FIGS. 3 and 4 are accomplished through the operation of the system of FIG. 7.

By way ofexample, it will be noted that, in FIG. 3, on control state 4 comparison is made to see if the quantity ID( I. IDUM) is equal to the quantity IX(LF.VEL). If the comparison is true, then the counter 331 increments so that the next control state 5 is produced. If the comparison is false, then the count in counter 331 must shift from 4 to 10. This IS accomplished by applying the outputs of comparator 177 to AND gates 348a and 3470. The true output appearing on line 178 is applied to AND gate 3480 whose output is connected by way of OR gate 335 and line 336 to the bank of AND gates 3470-]. As a result, the count from clock 330 applied to AND gates 333a-f is merely incremented to a count of 5. However, if the comparison is false, then there is a control state on line I79 leading to AND gate 3470. The output of AND gate 347a is connected to OR gates 346b, 3460, and MM. This causes AND gates 345b. 345C and 345d be enabled whereby the count in counter 33I rather than shifting from a count of4 to a count of 5 shifts from a count of 4 to a count of ID. This is accomplished by altering the second, third and fourth bits of the counter 33I through AND gates 345b, Sc and 345d. Similarly, each of the comparison outputs is employed in accordance with Schedule A so that the sequence as required by FIGS. 2 and 20 will be implemented. Because of the presence of the inverter 338, only one of the two sets of AND gates 337af or 345a-f will be effective in control of gates 3330-] through OR gates 33441-1.

OPERATION TRAINING In the following example of the operation of the system of FIGS. 5-8, thus far described the values of the input signal a and the desired output signal z that will be employed are set and 162 in this setting serve to change the digitized sample values in registers I57 and I58 to coded values indicated in FIG. I1. Quantizers I61 and I62 thus serve as coarser digitizers and could be eliminated, depending upon system design. By using quantizers I61 and 162, a high or infinite range of signal sample values may be accommodated. As shown in FIG. 11, the quantizers provide output values which are related to input values in accordance with the function illustrated in the graph. In Table I when the discrete time sample of the signal u=2.5, the function stored in the register I68 would be the value 32008. The signal from units 150 and 151 may be analog signals in which case an analog-to-digital converter may be employed so that the digital representation of the signal in any case will be stored in registers I56 and I57. The signal in register 158 is the value of the signal in register I52. The signals in registers I57 and 158 are then applied to the quantizers I61 and I62 to provide output functions in accordance with the graph of FIG. I I.

The operations now to be described will involve the system of FIGS. 5-8 wherein one input signal a one delayed feedback signal x and the desired output signal 1 are employed. The signals u, and z have the values set out in Tables I and II.

TABLE LI Control stateo ID (2,1 ID (2,2 D 2.2:

forth in Table I along with a sequence of values of the signal 7 to be used in post-training operations.

It will be noted that the values of u vary from one sample to another. Operation is such that key components are stored along with G and A values at addresses in the G matrix and in the A matrix such that in execution mode an output corresponding with the desired output will be produced. For example, in execution, it will be desired that every time an input signal sample u=2.5 appears in the unit I51 and a feedback sample x fll appears in unit I51, FIG. 5, the output of the system will be the optimum output for this input key. Similarly, a desired response will be extracted from the processor for every other input upon which the processor has been trained.

In considering further details of the operation of the system of FIGS. 5-8, it was noted above that the processor may include digitizers in units I56 and I57 which may themselves be termed quantizers. However, in the present system, units I6] and 162, each labeled quantizer, are used. Quantizers tel It will be understood that the initial feedback signal x is zero both during training and execution.

For such case, the operations will be described in terms of the successive control states noted in Table II.

Control state 0 In this state, the decoder 332 applies a control voltage state on the control line designated by 0 which leads from FIG. 8 to FIG. 5. The term control voltage" will be used to mean that a I state is present on the control line. This control voltage is applied to AND gate 30I to load a zero into the register I52. This control voltage is also applied to the SET unit 290. Unit 290 loads IC register 260 with a zero, loads a register 201 with the digital representation of the number 2. It also sets all of the storage registers in the ID] unit I84 and ID2 unit 22] to 0.

It will be noted that the control voltage on the 0 control line is applied by way of OR gate 335 and line 336 to each of AND gates 3370-). AND gates 3370-]; because of the output of the incrementer 342, provide voltages on the lines leading to AND gates 331a such that on the next clock pulse from clock 330 applied to AND gate 333a-f from clock 330, a control voltage appears on the control line I with zero voltage on all of the rest of the control lines 0-41, FIG. 8.

Control state I In this state, the control voltage on line 159 of FIG. 5 is applied to AND gates I53 I55 to load registers I56l58 with the digital representations shown in Table II. Register I56 is loaded with 2.0. Register 157 is loaded with 2.5. Register 158 is loaded with 0.

Control state 2 The control voltage on control line 2 causes the signals in registers 156-158 to be loaded into register 167-169. More particularly, the value of z=2 is loaded on register I67. The

value of 32008 is loaded into register I68 and the value 32006 is loaded into the register 169.

Control state 3 The control voltage appearing on control line 3 serves to load LEVEL register 200 with a digital representation of the number I, and loads the same number into the register 191. This initializing operation has been shown in FIG. 5 as involving the set unit 302 operating in well-known manner.

Control state 4 The control voltage on control line 4 is applied to comparator 177. At the same time, the control voltage is applied to AND gate 215 and through OR gate 212 to AND gate 211. This loads the contents of the register ID( I ,IDUM) into register I76 and produces on lines 170 and 179 output signals representative of the results of the comparisons. Comparator 177 may be 01 the well-known type employed in computer systems. It produces a control voltage on line 178 if the contents of register 176 equals the contents of register 175. If the comparison is false, a control voltage appears on line 179. Register 175 is loaded by the application of the control voltage to AND gate 286 by way of OR gate 286a whereupon decoder 287 enables gate 173 or gate 174 to load register 175. In the example of Table II, the LEVEL register has a l stored therein so that the contents of register 168 are loaded into register 175. This test results in a control voltage appearing on line 179 and no voltage on line 178, because the signals in registers I75 and 176 do not coincide.

As above explained, when the comparison in unit 177 is false, the operation skips from control state 4 to control state I as shown in FIG. 4, the counter 331 being actuated to skip the sequence from 59. As a result the next control line on which a control voltage appears at the output of the decoder is control line 10.

Control state Control line 10 is connected to the comparator 192 to determine whether or not the contents of register ID( ZJDUM) is equal to or less than the contents of IDUM register 191. This is accomplished by applying the control voltage on control line 10 through OR gate 224 to AND gate 223 by which means the contents of the register ID(2,IDUM) appear on line 229 which leads to register 190. The IDUM register 191 shown in FIG. 6 is shown dotted in FIG. 5. The output of register 191 is connected by way of line 222 to comparator 192. Thus, there is produced on lines 193 and 194 voltage states which are indicative of the results of the comparison in comparator 192. From Table II, the contents of ID(2,IDUM) register 190 is 0 and the contents of IDUM register 191 is I, thus the comparison is true. A resultant control voltage appears on line 193 with zero voltage on line 194. The control voltage on line 193 acting through AND gate 348a causes the counter 331 to increment by a count 01 l to the next control state II.

Control state 11 The control voltage appearing on line 11 is applied to AND gate 267 by way of OR gate 268 to increment the count from 0 to l in IC register 260.

Control state IIA The control voltage on control line IIA is applied to AND gate 181, through OR gate 311, to apply the contents of register 175 to the input select unit 183. The address at which such contents are stored is determined by the application of control voltage on control line IIA to AND gate 262, by way of OR gate 309. so that the contents of register 175 are stored in ID(I,1). Control line 11A is also connected to AND gate 236 by way 01' OR gate 2360 to apply to the input select unit 238 the contents of the A register 231 Contents of A register 231 correspond with the value stored at the ID(2,IDUM) by connecting control line IIA to AND gate 223. through OR gate 224. The contents ofID(2,I was 0 so that such a value is now stored in ID(2,I

Control state I 18 The control voltage on control line 118 is applied to AND gates 265 and 239 to store, at address lDt 2,1) the voltage representative of the contents of register 260, i.e., a l

Control state I2 The control voltage on control line 12 is applied by way of OR gate 2020 to comparator 202. The comparison is to determine whether or not the contents of register 200 equals the contents of register 201. At this time, register 200 contains a l and register 201 contains a 2. Thus, the comparison is false so that a control voltage appears on line 204 with a 0 voltage on line 203. Line 204 operates through AND gate 347d to set the counter 331 to skip to the control state 15.

Control state 15 The control voltage on control line 15 is applied to AND gate 304, through OR gate 305, to increment the value in re gister 200 from a l to a 2. Similarly, line 15 is connected to AND gate 267, through OR gate 268, to increment register 260 from alto a 2.

Control state 15A The control voltage on control line ISA is applied to AND gate 307, through OR gate 307a, to load the contents of register 260 into the register 191. Control line 15A is also connected to AND gates I81 and 286 to apply the contents of register 169 via register to the input select unit 183. Control line 15A is also connected to AND gate 262, through OR gate 309, to control the location of the storage of the contents of register 175 in the [DI register, namely at the location lD( 1,2).

Control state 158 The control voltage on control line 158 is applied to AND gate 241 to apply the contents of register 191 to the input select unit 238. The control line 158 is also connected to AND gate 262, through OR gate 309, to control location of storage by using the contents of register 260 to address the input select unit 238. As a result there will be stored at the location ID(2,2) the contents of register I91, namely, a 2. The completion of the operations of a control state 15B lead back to the comparison control state 12.

Control state 12 Upon this comparison, through application of the control voltage on control line 12 to comparator 202, it is found that the contents of register 200 equal the contents of register 201. Thus, on control state 12, the counter 331 is incremented to control state 13.

Control state 13 The control voltage on control line 13 is applied to AND gate 267, through OR gate 268, to increment the contents of register 260 from a 2 to a 3.

Control state 13A The control voltage on control line 13A is applied to AND gate 307, through OR gate 3070, to load the contents of register 260 into register 191. Control line 13A, FIG. 8, is connected to OR gates 346d and 346a to reset the counter 331 to control state 8.

Control state 8 In control state 8, the contents of the |D2 register 221 at the address corresponding with the contents of register 191, is to be incremented. The corresponding address in the lDl register 184 is to be increased by the amount of the desired output z.

Thus, the control line 8 is connected to AND gate 223, by way of OR gate 224, to place onto line 229 the contents of the register ID( 2,IDUM Control line 8 is also connected to AND gate 316 whereby a 1 from source 313 is applied to the adder 230. The sum is then stored in register 23] and is applied, by way 01' AND gate 236 and OR gate 237, to the input select unit 238. Control line 8 is connected to AND gate 236 by way of OR gate 236:: and to AND gate 239 by way of OR gate 240 so that the contents of register 231 are stored in register 221 at the location ID(2,IDUM).

Control line 8 is also connected to AND gate 211, by way of OR gate 212, to select from register 184 the value stored at ID(I,IDUM). This value is then applied to adder 172 along with the current value of the desired output z. The sum then appears in register 214. This sum is then applied, by way of channel 275, to AND gate 308 and then by way of OR gate 182 to unit 183. This value is stored in unit 184 at the address controlled by the output of the register 191 under the control 

1. The method of operating a trained processor beyond an untrained point where successive time sampled sets of level dependent signals stored in a tree storage array at successive memory locations along with a trained response for each set at a subsequent memory location form a data base to locate and extract a trained response to subsequent sets encountered following completion of training, which comprises: a. sequentially comparing a test set forming said untrained point with each trained set stored in said memory, b. establishing and storing a difference function from the comparison with each said trained set, and c. selecting and utilizing as the trained response for said untrained point that trained response from those for which the trained sets have the same minimal difference function relative to said untrained point and which satisfies a predetermined decision criteria.
 2. The method of claim 1 wherein during training, the frequency with which each input set is encountered is stored and wherein said decision criteria is based upon said stored frequency.
 3. The method of claim 2 wherein each difference function is separately stored, wherein a minimum difference function is stored and compared with each subsequent difference function, wherein, for all difference functions equally and minimally different from said untrained point, the trained responses and an indicia of said frequency are stored in a temporary storage means, and wherein said indicia are compared to select the trained response for whom the indicia is maximum.
 4. The method according to claim 1 wherein the selected trained response is formed by averaging the trained response for all sets which have the same minimal difference.
 5. The method of operating a trained processor beyond an untrained point where successive time sampled sets of level dependent input signals stored in a tree storage array at successive memory locations along with a trained response for each set at a subsequent memory location form a data base to locate and extract a trained response for subsequent sets encountered following completion of training, which comprises: a. comparing the signals of said untrained point, member by member, with the corresponding members of the first of said trained sets and subsequent trained sets, b. summing for each trained sEt the difference values for all members of said set to establish for each set a total difference function, c. storing said total difference function in two separate storage means for the first set, d. comparing the difference function for any set with the difference function for the succeeding set and substituting the succeeding difference function for that of its preceding set if the succeeding difference is smaller, e. storing in temporary storage the trained response for each training set with respect to which said difference function is of the same level and is less than all others, f. applying a decision logic to the temporarily stored trained responses to select as the trained response for said untrained point, the response satisfying a predetermined decision criteria.
 6. The method of claim 5 wherein there is stored in said temporary storage, indicia of the frequency of occurrences of the training sets for the temporarily stored trained responses, and wherein said selection is based upon the maximum frequency.
 7. The method according to claim 5 wherein said predetermined decision involves the frequency with which a given trained response magnitude function was stored in training as one component of a plurality of decision criteria components.
 8. In an automatic system trained to produce trained responses to successive sets of input signals wherein signal samples comprising each said set for each trained response and the corresponding trained response are stored at successive locations in a random access memory, the combination which comprises: a. comparison means responsive to an execution signal set not encountered in training successively to compare said execution set, component by component, with all stored sets, b. means for storing the difference function from said comparison means for each trained set, c. means responsive to completion of the comparisons for producing a trained response dependent upon those trained responses having the same minimal difference function producing during said comparisons, d. means for utilizing the selected trained response in said system as the trained response for said untrained point.
 9. The system according to claim 8 in which means including comparison logic network is provided for selecting the trained response from the minimal difference group which most often was encountered during training.
 10. In an automatic system trained to produce trained responses to successive sets of input signals wherein signal samples comprising each said set for each trained response and the corresponding trained response are stored at successive locations in a random access memory, the combination which comprises: a. comparison means responsive to an execution signal set not encountered in training successively to compare said execution set, component by component, with all stored sets, b. temporary storage means for storing the difference function from said comparison means for each trained sets, c. output storage means for storing the trained responses for trained sets involved in said comparison means, d. means for comparing a contemporary difference function with a prior difference function and for substituting said contemporary difference function for said prior difference function if the former is less than the latter, e. means responsive to completion of the comparisons for producing a trained response dependent upon those trained responses in said output storage means having the same minimal difference function producing during said comparisons, f. means for utilizing the selected trained response in said system as the trained response for said untrained point. 